Skeleton Army
The Skeleton Army card is unlocked from the Training Camp (Tutorial). It spawns 14 single-target, melee Skeletons with very low hitpoints and damage. A Skeleton Army card costs 3 Elixir to deploy. Strategy *Due to their high numbers, the Skeleton Army is effective against single target enemy troops such as the P.E.K.K.A. or Giant. **Another benefit is the Skeleton Army's cost of 3 Elixir, making it a very versatile card that can give you an Elixir advantage in almost any case. **They are useful for countering building targeting troops such as Hog Riders if they are by themselves. **Despite being incredibly susceptible to area damage, the Skeleton Army is capable of countering the Wizard, Witch, Bowler, Princess, Ice Wizard, and sometimes Bomber at tournament standards. The Skeleton Army must be placed directly on top of the unit, however. *While being powerful in numbers, they are very weak against splash damage. This means that the Bomber, Valkyrie, Arrows, Fireball, Poison, Fire Spirits, The Log, Zap, and Tornado are extremely effective against them and will most likely wipe them out instantly. **Other swarm troops such as Barbarians and Minion Horde may be more favorable, as they have higher hitpoints compared to the Skeleton Army. **The Skeleton Army can force the enemy to use their splash spell, allowing you to deploy other swarms of low hitpoint troops to deal high damage. However, this may not be wise because it generally costs less Elixir to destroy the Skeleton Army than to deploy it. **Zap, The Log and Fire Spirits are good counters to the Skeleton Army that give a positive Elixir trade. Arrows and Bomber give a neutral Elixir trade. Using Poison or Fireball is a negative Elixir trade. **Splash units, despite their higher Elixir cost, will generally be at full health after eliminating the Skeleton Army and can be used in a counter push. *The Skeleton Army is not recommended to be used offensively, as they can be easily wiped out with spells such as Arrows. **Keep in mind that if the Skeleton Army manages to lock on to a Crown Tower, it will deal extremely high damage to or even destroy it. *The Skeleton Army is best paired with troops like Witch, Prince, or any other troop with high damage. It can also be used to protect a P.E.K.K.A., Royal Giant, or another heavy troop when attacking. *The Skeleton Army can be used to great effect if the opponent has already used their area damage cards. *The Skeleton Army can be used against most cards that do death damage, as if a card has this stat, it is often too high to ignore. *A Skeleton Army can be used to counter another Skeleton Army with help from the Crown Tower. *Using a Rage on the Skeleton Army makes it a huge threat since they are already fast movers and hitters. Mirroring the Skeleton Army gives a huge numbers advantage. However, trying either of these strategies is very risky, as a splash unit can wipe it out for a positive Elixir trade. In double Elixir, the impact of failing this strategy is reduced. *An Ice Golem is able to eliminate the entire Skeleton Army with its death damage at tournament levels. It can be used as an expendable counter to the Skeleton Army for a positive Elixir trade. History *The Skeleton Army was released with Clash Royale's soft launch on 4/1/16. *On 19/2/16, a Balance Update increased the Skeletons' hitpoints and damage by 11%. *On 18/5/16, a Balance Update increased the Skeletons' hitpoints and damage by 5%. *On 4/7/16, the Tournaments Update increased the number of Skeletons spawned to 21 (from 20). **Clash Royale said that the fourth Skeleton from the Skeletons (the Skeletons card now only deploys three Skeletons) card joined the Skeleton Army, making it from 20 to 21. **This newly joined Skeleton was named "Ledoot", according to the updated description. ***This was a nod to a popular meme, the Skull Trumpet. ***This was a bit of an odd name, as all of the other skeletons' names ended with the letters "-ry". **The spawning pattern also got compressed when the card is deployed by the river. Previously skeletons would spawn on top of the river, even in enemy territory. * On 20/10/16, a Balance Update decreased the Skeleton Army's Elixir cost to 3 (from 4), increased the Skeletons' levels by 5 and reduced the number of Skeletons spawned to 16 (from 21). * On 1/11/16, the November 2016 Update removed the word "Ledoot" from its description. * On 23/1/17, a Balance Update reduced the number of Skeletons spawned to 15 (from 16). * On 19/4/17, a Balance Update reduced the number of Skeletons spawned to 14 (from 15). Trivia *Using the Skeletons card to summon 15 Skeletons would cost 5 Elixir, whereas using using the Skeleton Army card to summon 14 Skeletons costs 3 Elixir. *In the card picture, each Skeleton appears to have a diagonal cross on its eye. *The Skeleton Army is one of the 11 cards associated with Skeletons, including the Skeletons, Bomber, Witch, Tombstone, Bomb Tower, Giant Skeleton, Balloon, Skeleton Barrel, Guards, and Graveyard. *The Skeleton 'Larry' in the Skeleton Army's description is a reference to the Clash of Clans commercial, Larry. *It has the highest overall damage per second of any troop card, and the second highest overall damage per second in the game, second only to the Inferno Tower. *The Skeleton Army has the lowest health out of all the epic troops. de:Skelettarmeees:Ejército de esqueletosfr:Armée de squelettesit:Orda di scheletriru:Армия скелетовja:スケルトン部隊pl:Armia Szkieletów